Frightful Ferraris

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Does anyone out there have any idea how many books have been written on the subject of Ferrari? There may well be thousands. And somehow we suspect that the language used in 99 per cent of them consists entirely of praise and devotion. Quite frightening, really. We think it would be far more entertaining to read about Ferrari’s failures, because, boy, have there been some strange contraptions wearing the prancing horse badge.

One of the undisputed cover stars of our planned book, Frightful Ferraris, would be the car that Gooding & Company is offering at its Pebble Beach Auctions sale next month. It is a 1966 Ferrari 330 GT, but not as we know it. This example was built by Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena on behalf of an Italian nightclub owner. It is — to use the language of Ferrari books — ‘unconventional’. From its cartoonish flying buttresses to its gold paintwork, it is completely over the top. Fully restored, it is estimated to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000. A bargain, of course, for what may one day become the very definition of cool.

Text by Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy of Gooding & Co.

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